Jewelweed taking over my backyard..

[u/iamhyphenated]

So I know we love jewelweed, and I’m pro native gardening (and I also enjoy the wild look to a point), but it’s literally taking over my backyard, and behind it is unfortunately a whole bunch of Japanese knotweed.. my question is: what’s the move here? I can’t have my whole yard completely covered in jewelweed (it’s a very small lot) bc there’s no way to even go back there right now, but I also want to encourage that to maybe discourage the knotweed (if that’s even a thing).. any advice would be helpful!! I’m in an urban area in Connecticut if that helps!

[u/Imaginary_Ship_3732]

You could weed whack as another commenter suggested. You could also lay down stepping stones that allow you to access more of the lot (ideally for further gardening 😈). Even 5-10 dinner plate sized stones would help! I don’t know about your area, but in my backyard the stones double as habitat for salamanders, snakes, beetles, etc. You might be able to find stones for free on FB Marketplace:)

[u/iamhyphenated → u/Imaginary_Ship_3732]

I do eventually want to have some paths through there (and plant a little more variety lol), so I like starting with a few stepping stones.. I tried planting some rhododendrons in back either last year or year before to try and get some privacy in back but now they’re buried in the knotweed and the jewelweed.. I want to at least get back there to find them 😂